Hemidesmosomes and focal contact proteins: functions and cross-talk in keratinocytes, bullous diseases and wound healing

D Tsuruta, T Hashimoto, KJ Hamill… - Journal of dermatological …, 2011 - Elsevier
The outer most layer of the skin, the epidermis, is attached to the dermis via a sheet of
extracellular matrix proteins termed the basement membrane zone (BMZ). In the intact skin,
adhesion of the keratinocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis to the BMZ is facilitated
primarily by hemidesmosomes which associate with the keratin cytoskeleton. Cultured
keratinocytes do not assemble bona fide hemidesmosomes although hemidesmosome
protein clusters (stable anchoring contacts) are found along the substrate-attached surface …